July 25, 2011

Protesters have been releasing red heart balloons throughout the months of demonstrations... More than a dozen balloons were released in the rotunda Friday, but all of those had been removed by Monday morning.

The protester involved in Monday's incident told a Capitol police officer that the worker came at her with a knife. She did not appear to be injured, but was holding a blood-smeared paper bag and what looked like popped red heart balloon.

Other protesters who had been attending the daily singalong in the rotunda told the State Journal that the worker said he was sick of removing balloons from the dome and attempted to pop it. They said he apparently stabbed or cut himself in the process....

More balloons were released in the rotunda Monday afternoon after the incident.

The words that jump off the page are "came at her with a knife," but if you settle down and read that carefully, it seems more likely that you have an exasperated state worker clumsily attacking a balloon. Obviously, an actual knife attack would be terrible, but it doesn't sound as though that's what happened. On the other hand, deliberately releasing balloons inside the rotunda is vandalism. It's not cute and fun-loving. Dealing with this new "protests" is wasting state money and, apparently, upsetting at least one state worker.

"The citizen allegedly brought a balloon into the Capitol and the state employee allegedly broke the balloon. The state employee indicated that before the incident he slipped on the stairs and cut his hand," a statement released by the Department of Administration said. The statement made no mention of how the employee cut his hand or broke the balloon.

The citizen... said... an assistant facilities director in the Capitol, approached her with a knife and slashed her balloon. She said that when the incident occurred [he] had a handkerchief over his hand, which was bleeding.

So the approach with the knife, it seems, was about popping balloons to prevent the troublesome release into the dome. No one was attacked or threatened, and the state worker carrying out the balloon-release prevention technique somehow managed to cut himself.

ADDED: I have heard from an extremely trustworthy eyewitness that the police were talking to a weeping woman who claimed to have been assaulted.

Jenna says that she was standing with Leslie when Ron [Blair, the assistant facilities director,] approached “out of nowhere”. Leslie was holding a heart-shaped balloon that according to a @joevittie tweet, she had brought to give to a legislator. Jenna says Ron rushed at the balloon and popped it and then darted down a back stairway. In the course of the action Jenna says he did not say anything she could clearly hear, though he may have been mumbling.

Jenna says they were on the 2nd floor of the Capitol and he ran down to the 1st floor. She and Leslie followed close behind yelling at him and asking him why he popped the balloon. Jenna said he stopped at the 1st floor and turned. At this point they were very close, only “a couple of feet away” from Ron. Jenna says Ron lunged at Leslie grabbing her wrists and throwing her into a bathroom door. The force of the lunge was enough to push Leslie into the bathroom and he also came in the room with her. Jenna says that at this point Leslie started to scream and call “Help!”.

Interestingly, Ron Blair pushed Meade last March, as recorded in this video.

It's the culture. When I first took my position as a professor in Madison I was surprised, as well.

Many of the folks I work with are so far gone that any reasonable discussion of the issues rapidly reduces them to screaming, spitting anger and yet they think stunts like this balloon thing are the cat's meow.

Obviously, we need balloon control. A license with a $100 annual fee, mandatory training and no more than one balloon purchase per week. Police can raid homes and announce they've taken another 50 balloons off the street.

They can solve the balloon problem by filling the rotunda with hydrogen.

Icks-nay. As a practical problem, everyone inside would sound as if they inhaled helium--right before they passed out from lack of oxygen. The ensuing gridlock could be dubbed "hindered-burg" by the media which is even more embarassing than the sobriquet Walker-ville.

So someone keeps coming to your place of business and bringing a bunch of shit that you later have to clean up. I totally understand why that worker popped the ballon. He should have gotten all of them.

This is so ridiculous. Releasing balloons. How infantile. Whats next? Thumb sucking. People from Madison think they are so smart and above the rest of the country. These people are the elites who want to run the country and decide what we should eat and drink?

My favorite is balloon idiot Amy Hoffman. "The Taliban took away Afghan kids' kites; now I guess some Capitol functionary stabbed a heart balloon. This is NOT MY WISCONSIN!! God help us before it's too late."

@CarolHerman..going with the I'm not here to blame anyone and 35 minutes of Bush/Repub ranting.

Does anyone even buy the debt crisis meme anymore, Geitner pretty much blew that out of the water?

@Mesquito...always wanted to ask Colin Powell that same question. He tells about being the last person chosen for WP and it was an AA placement. Did he ever try to find out who he bumped out and what happened to him?

Emily Koczela had been anxiously waiting for months for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s controversial budget repair bill to take effect. Koczela, the finance director for the Brown Deer school district, had been negotiating with the local union, trying to get it to accept concessions in order to make up for a $1 million budget shortfall. But the union wouldn’t budge.

“We laid off 27 [teachers] as a precautionary measure,” Koczela told me. “They were crying. Some of these people are my friends.”

On June 29 at 12:01 a.m., Koczela could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The budget repair bill​—​delayed for months by protests, runaway state senators, and a legal challenge that made its way to the state’s supreme court​—​was law. The 27 teachers on the chopping block were spared.

Garbage and ignorant liberals hardest hit...

PS, remember the silly meme about how all the unions were making concessions and this legislation wasn't needed?

Just another "fact" that the reality based community can't seem to substantiate.

I'm not hit whatsoever, remember, mush-head? At least not financially. Our school district was though, and if you think the spin from the Weekly Standard is going to cut it with the locals around the state you're sorely mistaken. The state senate is going to flip to the Dem-14 in just a few weeks. Chew on that champ. Duh!

To give you an idea of what the state senate recall election is really about.....Shelley "WE BREATHE UNION" Moore and he union money is now running TV commercials saying CEOs are cutting employment to get big bonuses (which isn't neccesarily untrue) and it is Sheila Harsdorf's fault. Didn't realize a state senator had that much power.

But Harsdorf has a commerical mentioning her husband and kids. Something Moore can't due with her short failed marriage.

Chuck, I hope Shelly Moore's “We’re not supposed to use school email, but since all of our rights are being taken away, I don’t frankly care” (concerning illegal campaigning via school email) is being played over and over to show district voters where the WEAC party candidate's true loyalties lie.

Garage, let's keep it friendly. If I do anymore community time, I'm afraid my wife might leave me for an elevator guy. I'll bet Reps lose net 2 and keep the senate. If I'm wrong, I won't have you to kick around anymore...

Here's another example of what fucking bullshit that is..Kenosha union said go ahead and lay off, NO CONCESSIONS! 338 teachers BYE BYE.

And, by the way, a big fuck-you from the KEA to the Bradford football program.That's right, the best coach we have had in years is on the lay-off list.Can't get rid of any old toads who just go through the motions year after year. Seniority system and all. Can't mess with that.Meanwhile, the Kenosha Unified School District is taking another major hit. I don't know how the KUSD will survive without Kathy Barca's administrative leadership. Happy retirement wishes Kathy. Pls give Petey a big kiss from the taxpayers.